But the King, true to his ideas of military discipline, said: "No! He is condemned to die. He must die."
The King could not shake off the impression this interview had made on him, and J., who passed the evening in the smoking-room with his Majesty, said that he never saw the King so depressed as he was this evening.
The Queen came up to me directly after dinner, saying: "What were you and the King talking about? You both looked so serious and sad."
I told her.
She said, "The King has such a good heart."
The thought of the poor young fellow who was to be shot kept me awake, and I thought at five o'clock that I heard the report of guns, but I was not sure. My imagination was so keen that I could have pictured anything to myself.
The first thing the King said to me at luncheon was, "Did you hear this morning?"
I told him I heard something, but I dreaded to think what it might have meant.
"Alas!" he said, as his eyes filled with tears, "it is too true, I hate to think of it."
We left Monza at three o'clock this afternoon, I cannot tell you how kind their Majesties were to me! The Queen kissed me good-by and said, "Au revoir à Rome."